Various forms of latches and, in particular, gravity latches, have been previously proposed such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,747 (Doyle) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,351 (Clark), both of which are assigned to the assignees of the present invention. These two U.S. patents disclose specific developments in the field of latches for gates and doors. Other known prior latches in the field of those referred to as references in the printed specifications of the two U.S. patents mentioned above. The prior art listed comprises:
204,267Unger4,691,541McQuade et al2,313,712Jacobi4,732,418Crown et al2,953,916Thomas4,919,463McQuade, Sr.3,115,026Moore4,938,508Thomas3,433,518Foltz5,024,473McQuade3,593,547Taylor5,063,764Amis et al3,677,591Waldo5,103,658McQuade3,785,186James et al5,358,292Van Wiebe et al3,838,877Hanson6,058,747Doyle et al4,014,192Dillon et al6,347,819Plaxco4,378,684Dugan et al
U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,747 (Doyle et al) has a disclosure of a gravity latch having an enshrouded tongue and the lock mounted to be accessible from the front face. The disclosure includes a rear actuator unit adapted to be mounted on the opposite or rear face of a gate post so that, subject to any unlocking required of the rear unit, the tongue can be raised by the rear actuator to release the striker arm so that the gate may be opened from the rear side.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,351 (Clark) is a development with cylinder locks provided in front and rear units and respectively key operated to rotate a locking element into and out of a locking position. In the locking position the gravity biased tongue is locked in a retaining position in which the associated striker arm is held in position.
The prior published specifications referred to above are mentioned as an illustration of the background but in doing so, no admission is made that any of the specifications form part of the common general knowledge in Australia or any other geographical region.
In this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “comprising” is used in the non-exhaustive sense and further features may be present in the arrangement described.
The present invention is directed to new and useful alternatives to known arrangements.